Mablethorpe Athletic up to third with Chapel victory

Mablethorpe Athletic continued their promising start to the season with a 4-0 win at Chapel Swifts to move up to third in Division One.

With the wind advantage in the first half, Mablethorpe tried lots of long balls, one of which led to the opening goal on 11 minutes when Danny Marshall ran onto stand-in goalkeeper Marcus Marshall’s long punt to slot past the on-rushing Chris Cussons.

Soon afterwards Adam Cannon, Marshall and debutante Ryan Parnell all went close for the visitors, and approaching half-time, Cannon fired a shot wide before forcing Chris Cussons into a fine save.

Mablethorpe picked up where they left off in the second half and doubled their lead two minutes into the half.

Alex Carter floated a free-kick into the box and Chapel failed to clear their lines, allowing Adam Brownson to blast in from 10 yards.

Cannon was looking sharp and had a powerful shot well saved by Cussons before Courtney Skeldon saw his rebound blocked on the line by Kieran Guest.

At the other end, Ben Bloodworth raced clear only to shoot straight at Mackay, and Daryl Redgard then missed a chance as Chapel looked to pull a goal back.

With 11 minutes left, Athletic put the result beyond doubt when man-of-the-match Marshall exchanged passes with Parnell and netted his second of the afternoon.

And just before full-time Cannon added a fourth as he latched onto Carter’s free kick to slot into the bottom left corner.

Right at the end Mackay pulled off another save to deny Alex Beeby to preserve his clean sheet.

Despite winning 4-0, manager Mick Stubbs was not entirely convinced.

“It was great that we kept a clean sheet and got the three points, but we only played well in parts today,” he said.

“The wind made it difficult, but I don’t think everyone was up for a hard game. We just seemed to do enough in a match we always looked like winning.

“We need to approach games with a more positive attitude.

“Maybe Chapel didn’t put us under enough pressure and make their wind advantage count in the second half.

“As the game went on I thought we would control it more. For me we could have played better. ”

On Saturday, Athletic travel to AFC Holton Le Clay in the league (kick-off 2.30pm).